The xbox one's Game OS. Is it working right?

[Rockster]

MS official statement on this is the XB1 can suspend 4 non-game apps and 1 game.

This seems correct, (I can't remember as the 4th app may close the first), but the important bit being there is a game running which forces those apps to live within the normal "App OS" reservation from a memory perspective. Suspended games stay resident in memory, they just don't have access to the same CPU/GPU resources as they do when they are running (ie. in the foreground). The same is true for apps.

I doubt very much you can have 8 apps suspended.

Not sure if or when this changed, and didn't read exactly what Albert wrote to see if it contradicts what I am saying. But you certainly CAN, so long as there is no game suspended. Sounds like you spent a lot of time investigating this behavior and this is fairly easy to test. Use the menu button to ensure you have quit any game you have open and launch a bunch of apps (more than 5). Then go back to the first app, it will resume rather than reload. This doesn't happen when you have a game suspended. Point being the "App OS" can and will leverage more than 3GB when the "Game OS" is shutdown. And, like you have found, the system will do this automatically after a period of time if the extended recently used app list doesn't include a game.

 

[orangpelupa]

btw the problem of closing app/game is also happen on PS4 but its in reverse.

Spoiler

Sony put the most important priority to video game. So when the game is loading, the whole OS become sluggish (even froze for minutes) and if you multitask it will quickly randomly kill background app as soon as you go to video game.

so if you were watching youtube then want to check the game for a few secs. BAM! the web browser will reload youtube or if you are lucky, it will resume.

personally i prefer this behavior. so i wont lost game progress if i were watching something on youtube for 30 minutes.

now im curious on xbox, if you were rendering stuff on UPLOAD, while suspending game, then opening more than 5 apps. Does the UPLOAD automatically killed or MS give it "persistent" tag a-la android handle multitask?

 

[mrconfused]

This seems correct, (I can't remember as the 4th app may close the first), but the important bit being there is a game running which forces those apps to live within the normal "App OS" reservation from a memory perspective. Suspended games stay resident in memory, they just don't have access to the same CPU/GPU resources as they do when they are running (ie. in the foreground). The same is true for apps.



Not sure if or when this changed, and didn't read exactly what Albert wrote to see if it contradicts what I am saying. But you certainly CAN, so long as there is no game suspended. Sounds like you spent a lot of time investigating this behavior and this is fairly easy to test. Use the menu button to ensure you have quit any game you have open and launch a bunch of apps (more than 5). Then go back to the first app, it will resume rather than reload. This doesn't happen when you have a game suspended. Point being the "App OS" can and will leverage more than 3GB when the "Game OS" is shutdown. And, like you have found, the system will do this automatically after a period of time if the extended recently used app list doesn't include a game.

Hi Rockster,

I tested out switching apps without a game running, and i couldn't get more than 4 apps to suspend.

Could you test yours and post your results, as i'm really curious now.

Thanks.

 

[Rockster]

I did actually. Just to double check before posting my reply. Let me see if I can figure out a way to setup something to hold my phone and i'll make a video. I'm at work now and have plans this evening, so I'll shoot for a demo in the morning.

 

[dobwal]

Maybe you all should list the apps you are suspending. On Windows 8 and WP8 at least, suspend and resume behavior is coded by the dev. And given the uneven behavior across XB1 games when it comes to this feature, its probably the same.

 

[mrconfused]

btw the problem of closing app/game is also happen on PS4 but its in reverse.

Spoiler

Sony put the most important priority to video game. So when the game is loading, the whole OS become sluggish (even froze for minutes) and if you multitask it will quickly randomly kill background app as soon as you go to video game.

so if you were watching youtube then want to check the game for a few secs. BAM! the web browser will reload youtube or if you are lucky, it will resume.

personally i prefer this behavior. so i wont lost game progress if i were watching something on youtube for 30 minutes.

now im curious on xbox, if you were rendering stuff on UPLOAD, while suspending game, then opening more than 5 apps. Does the UPLOAD automatically killed or MS give it "persistent" tag a-la android handle multitask?

The PS4 method sounds exactly how expected the XB1 to behave, giving priority to the game.

To answer your question, opening up too many apps (in my experience that would be 5) will close upload studio.

 

[orangpelupa]

can you circumvent that by snapping upload on the side?

 

[mrconfused]

While you can't snap upload studio itself, you can snap and cycle through as many apps as you please whilst upload studio continues to render and upload, and will do so without interuption.

 

[Rockster]

Well color me confused. Finally got around to looking at this more and I have been able to get as many as 6 apps without a game running, but not consistently. As I circle back around sometimes that first app will restart. 5 seems to be the functional limit, and may be tied to the number of app slots on the home screen. I did try having a game suspended and launching 5 apps, waiting 45 minutes, but my game resumed fined. Do you know what the app count requirement is to get the game to close?

 

[dobwal]

Thats why I suggested listing the apps being used. Suspend and resume behavior of an app is coded by the dev. And all is not equal on that front.

You might be able to parse out a particular app or a set of apps that produces the behavior. Considering that the feature was beta during launch, older apps might not behave correctly.

It also may be the game. Games on WP7 didn't all behave in the same manner when you navigated away from them and basically suspended them since only 1 app could be opened at a time.

 

[mrconfused]

The game will close only when you have it suspended for 30 mins and THEN launch 4-5 apps.

So, launch game, switch to an app and use that app for 30 minutes, then launch and fully load 4- 5 apps, then go back to game.

Also i have had a game close down after launching 3 apps once the game has been suspended for 30 mins.
E.g load game, load youtube- watch video for 30 mins, fully load 3 more apps, go back to game, game closed.

 

[mrconfused]

Thats why I suggested listing the apps being used. Suspend and resume behavior of an app is coded by the dev. And all is not equal on that front.

You might be able to parse out a particular app or a set of apps that produces the behavior. Considering that the feature was beta during launch, older apps might not behave correctly.

It also may be the game. Games on WP7 didn't all behave in the same manner when you navigated away from them and basically suspended them since only 1 app could be opened at a time.

I have over 30 games/demos on my XB1 and they all close down after 30 minutes of supension+app switching.

I have tested every app and combinations of apps and the results are the same: Once any game has been suspended for 30 mins and then you open between 3-5 apps, game will terminate.

It is highly illogical.

 

[NRP]

The only weirdness I've noticed is when I'm playing Destiny and shut the Bone off for the night, then fire up the console the next day and resume Destiny, sometimes the game's sound doesn't work. I need to go to the home screen, launch another game, then re-launch Destiny to get the sound working. Not sure if it's the game or the OS that is screwing up. I don't have any issues with Titanfall though.

 

[dobwal]

I have over 30 games/demos on my XB1 and they all close down after 30 minutes of supension+app switching.

I have tested every app and combinations of apps and the results are the same: Once any game has been suspended for 30 mins and then you open between 3-5 apps, game will terminate.

It is highly illogical.

Its not illogical. Something is borked. The Xb1 is suppose to be able to resume an app from a terminated state.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...=3OYoPg6H8-FcbE0TOnVopQ&bvm=bv.77880786,d.b2U

Supposedly when resuming a game from a terminated state its just loads a previous save without the need to navigate menus. Windows gives apps a window of time to save once suspended, so I imagine thats how it works on the Xbox One.

Obviously its not working as intended so maybe MS hasn't ironed out all the wrinkles from resuming from a terminated state or devs aren't bothering or having a hard time supporting the feature and are just letting the game launch regularly.

edit;
Then again this wouldn't be much of a problem if most games were designed to load directly into the game like GTA versus launching you into the main menu everytime. If launching from a terminated game was a more streamlined event then the OS terminating a game wouldn't be a problem for most.

The 30 minute windows seem to revolve around allowing players who are using a multitude of apps in conjunction with a game from having their session terminated. The OS is holding the game in a suspended state for the sake of convenience.

Suspend for longer than 30 minutes and then open a bunch of apps, the OS responds by terminating the game for the sake of performance.

 

[arhra]

The only weirdness I've noticed is when I'm playing Destiny and shut the Bone off for the night, then fire up the console the next day and resume Destiny, sometimes the game's sound doesn't work. I need to go to the home screen, launch another game, then re-launch Destiny to get the sound working. Not sure if it's the game or the OS that is screwing up. I don't have any issues with Titanfall though.

You don't actually have to force a full reload to fix that bug - just "relaunching" (which will resume) the game from a launcher tile (a pin, the current disc tile if you have a physical copy, or just going into games and apps and launching it from there; ie, anything other than selecting it from the recent-apps list) will bring the sound back.

Which if anything, just makes the bug weirder.

And doesn't actually make much difference, thanks to Destiny's server-based nature meaning you get kicked back to the opening screen every time you suspend, but at least you get to skip the initial load/logo screens.

 

[NRP]

Further testing shows that all I need to do to get the sound back is go to the Xbox home screen, then hit the B button to switch back to full screen. Much quicker and easier than launching another game.